BOOK REVIEW
(Bear Family BCD 17052 16-CD, 2021) adds a new chapter to the Bear Family Records deep dive into American popular culture. Historian/collector Jay Bruder worked with a small army of researchers and editors to compile the beautifully designed book and its accompanying 16-CD discography. The box unearths an obscure story about the musical history of the Black population in the nation’s capital between the era of big band swing jazz and early rock’n’roll. Though the music part of the package covers only about two decades—the last recording date is 1962—the history goes back to the
